tobacco

[Guest guest]

Does anyone else here think the dangers of tobacco use are overrated?

Now I'm by no means saying tobacco is good for you or even not bad for you,

but many things seem to indicate that straight tobacco is one of the least

harmful things in the modern diet.

Enig and Uffe Ravnskov have cited a couple studies finding that people

who ate large amounts of saturated fat *and smoked* had less incidence of

heart diesease than people who followed " healthy diets " and didn't smoke.

Many of these centenarian folks smoke also, but they almost invariably have

diets low in sugar and insulin-producing foods. So, if smoking kills, it is

certainly much better, or less worse, than a high PUFA diet or high-sugar

diet.

Moreover, most people who smoke do not simply smoke tobacco but smoke tobacco

soaked in amonia, jet fuel, butane, fermaldehyde, chemicals to make the paper

burn more rapidly, bleached paper, etc. Any study assessing the dangers of

*tobacco* needs to isolate it from these factors.

I have a little anecdote to share too. When I was a teenager, I smoked about

a pack a day of Marlboros. There was a point at which I smoked a pack and a

half when I had a consistent job-- in any case, whenever this was, I smoked

between 20 and 30 cigarettes a day. I also had a high-sugar diet, drinking

two tall glasses of Coca-cola the first thing in the morning. I came down

with a chronic cough, wheezing, etc. This went on for months and never

abated. My mother saw an herbalist, and she gave her a tea and had her have

me cut the soda out of my diet. This tea is mildly effective, as I've used

it after this episode to see the results of it on its own, but it is no

miracle cure. In any case, after going on this program my chronic coughing

and wheezing cleared right up *while continuing to smoke 20-30 cigarettes a

day*!!!

So, in my case, the sugar and immune system supressant in the Coca-Cola and

whatever other sugary crap I may have cut out, was even worse for my LUNGS

than smoking!

I haven't smoked a cigarette for over 5 years and believe they are no doubt

unhealthy; however, I think this crusade against smoking is probably

misguided and the effort and money would be much better funneled into a

campaign against sugar. These tobacco executives are no doubt evil people

but I doubt they wreak anywhere near as much damage as the corn oil and sugar

pushers.

Chris

____

" What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a

heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and

animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of

them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense

compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to

bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature.

Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the

truth, and for those who do them wrong. "

--Saint Isaac the Syrian